Lead
At the Marrakech Film Festival jury press conference on Saturday, jury president Bong Joon Ho gave a two-part response to questions about artificial intelligence: a formal, cautiously optimistic statement and a starkly personal quip about forming a military squad to “destroy AI.” Other jury members — including Celine Song, Jenna Ortega and Julia Ducournau — used the platform to debate AI’s cultural, economic and ethical risks for filmmakers and audiences.
Key Takeaways
- Bong Joon Ho, serving as jury president in Marrakech, said officially that AI might prompt humans to reconsider uniquely human creativity, but he also joked about organizing a military squad to “destroy AI.”
- Celine Song echoed Guillermo del Toro’s blunt rejection of current AI practices and warned that AI is colonizing how audiences encounter images and sound.
- Jenna Ortega, the festival’s youngest juror, described the technology as opening a “Pandora’s box” and expressed hope audiences will return to human-made work.
- Moroccan director Hakim Belabbes framed AI’s models and data ownership as a potential new form of cultural colonialism, stressing the need for creators to control their own visual worlds.
- Julia Ducournau acknowledged AI’s usefulness (she cited work on her film Alpha) but argued using it to cut human jobs would be “wrong and immoral.”
- Past Lives director Celine Song referenced the TV series Severance to illustrate fears that algorithmic systems can erode complex, lived experience in storytelling.
- The jury at Marrakech included Celine Song, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jenna Ortega, Karim Aïnouz, Hakim Belabbes, Julia Ducournau and Payman Maadi, reflecting a range of generational and regional perspectives.
Background
The debate over AI and creative labor has accelerated across film communities in 2024–25 as generative tools have been deployed for visual effects, script polishing and imagery. Filmmakers, festivals and unions are increasingly concerned about how training datasets, crediting practices and cost-cutting incentives reshape production and distribution. High-profile filmmakers such as Guillermo del Toro have publicly criticized current AI practices, prompting festivals and industry bodies to address ethical and legal frameworks.
Marrakech’s jury—assembled to judge the festival’s competition—brought those worries into the open during a routine press briefing. The conversation folded together artistic, economic and cultural-preservation threads: disputes over who owns imagery used to train models, worries about job displacement in crafts from cinematography to postproduction, and broader anxieties about cultural representation when largely Western datasets dominate outputs.
Main Event
The press conference began with a measured statement from Bong Joon Ho, who said AI could prompt reflection on what is distinctively human in creativity. He followed with a personal, jocular remark about organizing a military squad to destroy AI, a line that punctured the formal tone and drew laughter while underscoring deeper unease.
Celine Song expanded the discussion, directly endorsing Guillermo del Toro’s blunt stance against current AI practices and arguing that algorithmic systems are reshaping how audiences experience images and sound. She warned that the most fragile casualty would be the messy, difficult aspects of human life that make art meaningful, citing the series Severance as a diagnostic example.
Jenna Ortega, the youngest juror, spoke of a historical pattern in which human invention is often pushed too far, calling the situation reminiscent of opening a Pandora’s box. Ortega said she hopes audiences grow tired of formulaic, algorithm-driven content and rediscover appetite for human-made, idiosyncratic storytelling.
Moroccan director Hakim Belabbes framed the issue in postcolonial terms, warning that models trained on datasets that do not represent local cultures amount to another form of cultural appropriation or whitewashing. Julia Ducournau provided a counterpoint: she acknowledged AI’s practical benefits for visual effects work on her film Alpha, but insisted AI should remain a tool rather than a substitute for human collaboration and labor.
Analysis & Implications
The Marrakech exchange captures a broader industry inflection point: creatives and cultural institutions are balancing AI’s pragmatic advantages against risks to labor, aesthetics and cultural sovereignty. Economically, studios may find short-term savings in automation, but sustained reliance on AI could hollow out specialized crafts—cinematography, sound design and on-set collaboration—that add distinct value to films.
Culturally, the provenance and composition of training datasets matter. If models are trained primarily on Western or commercially driven imagery, outputs can reinforce homogenized aesthetics and erase marginalized visual languages. That raises legal and policy questions about dataset transparency, copyright, and mandatory credits for human contributors.
Festivals like Marrakech now function as forums where these debates translate into potential norms: public statements, jury positions, and future calls for festival policies that require disclosure of AI use in submissions. Industry governance could follow via union bargaining, credits standards, and metadata requirements that track human input versus machine assistance.
In the short to medium term, expect a bifurcated market: commercial content optimized for scale and algorithmic pleasingness, and a parallel, possibly more valued independent ecosystem that foregrounds human-made idiosyncrasy. That dynamic could ultimately reshape distribution, funding and audience expectations.
Comparison & Data
| Name | Role | Stance on AI |
|---|---|---|
| Bong Joon Ho | Jury President | Cautiously reflective / personal opposition (joke) |
| Celine Song | Director (Past Lives) | Strongly critical — aligns with del Toro |
| Jenna Ortega | Actress | Concerned — cultural and emotional impacts |
| Julia Ducournau | Director | Pragmatic: tool-use acceptable, not job-cutting |
| Hakim Belabbes | Director | Critical — cultural colonialism risk |
The table summarizes public positions voiced at the Marrakech press conference. While most participants emphasized concerns, positions ranged from wary acceptance of AI as a technical aid to outright rejection of its current business and cultural uses. This spectrum mirrors broader industry conversations, where nuance coexists with strong advocacy for protections and creative sovereignty.
Reactions & Quotes
Before presenting direct excerpts, note that each quote below was spoken at the Marrakech jury press conference and reported by Deadline; quotes are short and contextualized rather than long verbatim passages.
“I’m going to organize a military squad, and their mission is to destroy AI.”
Bong Joon Ho (jury president)
That line followed Bong’s formal remarks about AI prompting reflection on human creativity. The joke served both to relieve tension and to signal a personal alarm that echoed other jurors’ more explicit criticisms.
“We’ve opened up a Pandora’s box.”
Jenna Ortega (juror)
Ortega used this phrase to describe the depth of uncertainty around AI’s cultural effects. She framed her comments around audience tastes and the hope that people will tire of algorithm-driven content and return to distinct human voices.
“Fuck AI”
Quoted endorsement of Guillermo del Toro by Celine Song
Celine Song invoked del Toro’s blunt rejection to underline her belief that current AI practices can erode the difficulty and richness that give art value. She cited collaborative practices—such as working with a cinematographer—as irreplaceable sources of meaning.
Unconfirmed
- Precise details about which commercial datasets were used by studios referenced in the conversation are not publicly disclosed and remain unverified.
- Reports that Guillermo del Toro will attend Marrakech were referenced by a juror; his confirmed festival participation was not independently verified in the press briefing transcript.
Bottom Line
The Marrakech press conference made clear that elite filmmakers and emerging talents alike are scrutinizing AI’s cultural, labor and ethical dimensions. The exchange combined practical examples of AI’s utility with strong warnings about creative erasure, economic displacement and cultural homogenization.
What to watch next: festival policies on AI disclosures, union negotiations over credits and work scope, and the marketplace response—whether audiences reward human-authored risk-taking or grow accustomed to polished, algorithm-optimized output. Those dynamics will determine whether the industry splits into machine-optimized scale and a revitalized, proudly human independent sector.